hkskyline's 2013 in NAGASAKI

[hkskyline]

Welcome to Nagasaki, with a spectacular coastal setting enhanced by hills. This was a major trading port and home to many foreigners since the 17th century.













Nagasaki Electric Tramway runs 4 lines and uses a mix of historic and modern vehicles. The city is fairly small so getting around is quite convenient and a bargain since a day pass costs only 500 yen.



















Hollander Slope was named for the foreigners that lived here in the 19th century when the port was open to foreign trade, although they were not all Dutch people. Many of their European-style buildings remain along these hillsides today.











Built in 1634, the "Spectacles" Bridge (Meganebashi) spans the Nakajima River, once Nagasaki's key transport artery. What you see today is actually a reconstruction after the original bridge was washed away in 1982.









2 major temples lie east of the bridge - Kofukuji and Sofukuji.









Nagasaki was a major port for the Chinese trade in the old days even during Japan's period of national isolation. At its peak, some 10,000 Chinese lived in the city, so it is not surprising there is a Chinatown there.







The local speciality is champon, a ramen in a pork soup with lots of vegetables.







Oura Catholic Churchwas established in 1865 and features in a prominent hillside location overlooking the city. The original French stained glass windows were mostly damaged in the atomic bombing and have since been restored.





HSBC's old Nagasaki branch is now a museum.









More on my website : http://www.globalphotos.org/nagasaki.htm

[hkskyline]

Dejima was built at Nagasaki's coast to limit foreigners from accessing the city and spreading Christianity. The Portuguese were the first European traders here, but were later banned and the Dutch arrived took their place. After Japan opened to the outside world in 1859, the waters surrounding Dejima were gradually reclaimed and are now part of the mainland.



































Construction of Dejima started in 1634 and was originally intended to be a Portuguese settlement. But Portuguese ships were banned from Japan in 1639. The Dutch East India Company moved its trading post here in 1641.

[destroycreate]

This thread brought back great memories. I visited Nagasaki in 2002 with my father on a business trip he had, I was in 8th grade. I remember this city being my favorite between Osaka and Tokyo. The natural setting is truly stunning, and it has always reminded me of San Francisco in a weird way.

The pre-war architecture of Japan is really interesting...I can't really tell what it's about:

[mello]

Great pics, love the first couple pics showing the neighborhoods going up in to the hills. So do you work for a travel agency/magazine or something?

[Surrealplaces]

Nice pics! I had no idea Nagasaki looked like this.

[Shawn]

I love Nagasaki, it's an entirely different world down there.

Just think about this: mid 1500s there were over 100,000 Japanese Catholics living in and around Nagaski. Many daimyo (all-powerful feudal lords who answered only to the Shogun himself) in Kyushu converted to Catholicism during this period.

What would Japan have been like if Catholicism stuck like it did in the Philippines? Without the Spanish system in place, it's unlikely to have turned out similar to the Philippines. Would the Japanese Empire have behaved differently at the end of the Meiji Restoration if it had instead been the Holy Japanese Empire? Korean-Japanese relations could have been so drastically different.

[hkskyline]

Gunkanjima is located about 20km ofshore from Nagasaki. Its prosperity began when coal was discovered in 1810 and Mitsubishi developed coal mining on the island in 1890. Miners lived in dormitories on the island and the population reached oveer 5200 in 1960. The mines closed in 1974 and the island was subsequently abandoned. Today, visitors can only reach the island via escorted local tour, although they give English pamphlets to non-Japanese speakers.









At a pit stop island, the guide explained the various buildings on a scale model of the island. It was fairly self-contained, with schools, a hospital, worker housing, temple, and cinema.









There was also a museum with artifacts from the mining era.













Shortly after, the abandoned island came into view. Gunkanjima stretched 480m long and 160m wide. It was not a huge island by any means.